A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata Read Free Book Online

squeezed, knocking the air out of him. He should probably scold her for that, but he didn’t want her to think he didn’t love her. Tomas thought that was ridiculous reasoning, but Y’Tin didn’t care.
    Y’Tin heard his name being called and turned around. H’Juaih was running through the sugarcane field with her arms flapping through the air. He ran toward her.
    â€œWhat is it?” he said, taking hold of her arm.
    â€œAma wants you.” She held on to a lock of her long hair, the way she always did when she was worried or thinking.
    â€œWhat does he want?”
    â€œI don’t know. He said it was important and for me to hurry. He said, ‘Why does that boy always rush off to his elephant when there are important matters to discuss?’”
    â€œThey were arguing,” he defended himself. “Tomas! Can you keep an eye on Lady?”
    Tomas raised a few fingers in reply.
    Y’Tin and H’Juaih trotted together around the family’s field. The green shoots were tiny and vulnerable. Sometimes his parents slept outside with the crops, to catch vermin that might eat them.
    Now the crescent moon hung over the village in the still-blue sky. One of Y’Tin’s uncles believed that a daytime moon was luckier than a nighttime moon. Y’Tin had no opinion about that; he would have to study it further one day.
    H’Juaih and Y’Tin slipped through the village gate. At the closest longhouse he saw one of the families holding a small ritual, just a chicken and one jar of rice wine. Probably someone was a little sick, so they were sacrificing a chicken. Several men were sipping from the jar with long straws. One of them stopped to say loudly, “I’ll fight the Vietcong with my bare hands if I have to.” He slurred his words, and Y’Tin knew he’d been drinking quite a bit.
    Y’Tin’s father was waiting outside their longhouse. The stilts at the front entrance were slanting, making the inside of the house slant as well. That was because his addled uncle (who had come from the Knul clan) helped construct that part of the house.He’d insisted on being in charge of building. He and Y’Tin’s youngest aunt had divorced a couple of years ago, and he had gone back to live with the Knuls. The Knuls had a reputation for being oddballs. Y’Tin had no idea why his family had allowed his auntie to marry a Knul. Anyway, the house still slanted. That was the story Ami had told him about why the house was that way. She had been lecturing him on how he was supposed to behave someday when he went to live in his wife’s house. Uncle, she’d told Y’Tin, was an example of everything Y’Tin should not be.
    There was nowhere private inside, so Ama gestured Y’Tin to follow him. They usually talked in private out by the tobacco fields or, when Ama was in a hurry, at the fence on the far south side of the village. Tonight Y’Tin followed his father to the fence. He knew his father had been thinking. Whenever he’d been thinking, it often seemed to involve Y’Tin. That’s because H’Juaih was perfect and Jujubee was still young.
    Y’Tin peeked through an opening in the fence and could see the elephants beyond the fields. Lady was dragging the tree that she’d knocked down. She always liked to play with her food. “Forget the elephants for a moment,” Ama said shortly.
    Y’Tin looked at his father with surprise. He knew his father took great pride in Y’Tin’s expertise about elephants.
    â€œY’Tin, some of the men have been talking about moving into the jungle and setting up a guerilla encampment.”
    â€œBut you’ve been talking about it since the Americans left.”
    â€œWe used to speak of it casually, but now we speak of it seriously.”
    So many Dega tribesmen had worked closely with the American Special Forces that all might be considered guilty if